Due to waiting 7 years since the initial trailer this review may come across as more of a therapy session. Please keep in mind It is heavily cut down due to the Steam character limit so may lack examples. Spoiler free.

The City of Dreams
Despite being one of the biggest selling points of the game it's extremely lackluster. It completely fails at feeling like a living breathing world due to braindead AI that have essentially 2-3 settings on how to react to you, which isn't helped by the cop AI that literally teleports behind you. There's zero innovation in how you navigate it compared to other open world games. The roads and streets are empty even when crowd density is maxed, and the repetitive adverts feel like they were made by kids who played GTA for a weekend. You'll never have to deal with suddenly coming across a traffic blocked road, or having a chase scene in a packed street. The game lacks the detail of Rockstar title but also does nothing innovative with it unlike Death Stranding, resulting in an open world that would make even Ubisoft would look down at.

The Plot of Wholesome Keanu 100
The writing certainly has its moments where the CD Projekt Red you know and love finally show up, but due to the poor presentation of it and amount of clutter surrounding everything it's rarely given time to shine. In Witcher 3 half the joy was getting somewhere and seeing Geralt interact with whatever was going on, whereas now you'll be treated to a first person sitting simulator throughout much of the MSQ. The bulk of side content is handed out via bland datashards so it's impossible to feel much for them. Even when the game finally blends the writing and presentation in an engaging way it's undercut by not then reflecting it in gameplay. Given how quickly a lot of aspects of the prologue are dropped it feels like once they got Keanu on board a chunk of the game was restructured to focus on him more, even when it makes his character somewhat schizophrenic due to the open world questing aspect of the game.

The Big Dreamer With Few Real Options
An RPG where all styles turn out the same. Your life path means nothing aside from some extra fluff and is over in 10 minutes. Your desire to choose a certain playstyle has been butchered due to everything being watered down or not feasible due to the stat nature of the game. Your choices often feel more like you're playing Veralt instead of your V. If you wanted to spec into stealth you'll enjoy immediate disappointment when your silenced headshot not only alerts everyone but doesn't even come close to killing the person you hit, so enjoy just walking behind people to press F for most engagement. Lethal or non-lethal make no difference, the game makes no distinction even during story moments. If you wanted to spec into being a netrunner you're in for a pretty basic time as the monowire has lost all of its identity and purpose, much like the Mantis Blade, and instead act as a cheap melee weapon because long range hacking is available to all. If you wanted to do an augless run you're out of luck, if you wanted to become more machine than man you're also out of luck. Augs are implented in ways that make them come across as an afterthought, with the same level of care put into buying them as a snack. This comes across less as intentional and more as lazy. Your augs have no change on your physical appearance, so even though the game lets you look in the mirror at key moments on your journey it doesn't do anything with it. It also turns out the most exciting augs can get in 2077 for Veralt is the option of a double jump, so if you've ever played Deus Ex you've played a more exciting game from an augmentation and build standpoint.

The Cyber Punk In A Clown Wig
Expressing yourself with style is something the game outright tells you it's going for, however due to all the stats weaved into the clothes and the guns it means you're left more chasing numbers due to the butchered scaling more than anything. It also stops you from feeling overly attached to any weapons or clothes you may have as you'll find ones slightly better on the next ganger. Honestly the entire lootershooter aspect should of been dropped. Not only does it butcher the pacing it ends up undermining many aspects of the game it scales terribly. It's one of the main reasons the entire game comes off as a teenager describing their 'dream game' without having any idea how all these parts would actually fit together.

The Search For Trauma Team, For I Have Been Traumatised
Trauma Team, MaxTac, all of the constant videos and lines about factions? All of it amounts to nothing. What this game needed was something akin to that of the faction system of New Vegas but instead there is literally nothing. One mission you might end up working for a faction, then right after you can go and kill a bunch of that same faction for no reason just out in the streets, and nothing changes. If you end up helping that faction later it's never mentioned, they don't acknowledge it at all. All of the enemies blend into the same group and it makes the city feel even more lifeless, your actions even less impactful. There's no cool scenes or use of MaxTac, and you never need to worry about Trauma Team swooping in and starting fights with everyone if you take out someone of interest.

The Scraps
This isn't about all the cut content or the fact you can literally run onto the tram line for essentially an unintended tour of a bunch of it but more a section for additional points I can't fit in elsewhere. Firstly, all the entire UI is atrocious from the very start. It's cluttered and buggy. Secondly, the first person perspective is never once capitalized on in an interesting way nor is it consistent as you can switch to third person when in a vehicle. Thirdly, all of the music just feels like they wanted to do everything except the one type of music a large group of people actually wanted. Fourthly, the mission and level design is some of the worst I've ever played. I found in almost all of the major stealth missions I could just hold W to get in and out without letting go straight down the middle of the area without being spotted due to how all the enemies were laid out. Fifthly, the fact you can select your genitals in the character customisation is never once used. I'm not talking about how the game constantly puts your underwear on regardless or things like that, but more in the fact it's completely wasted opportunity. The game has a heavy theme about identity in a world where you can change what you are whenever you want yet never has a quest where the player would start having to mess about their genitals for key information or the like. The opportunity to really get to a simple yet effective core at peoples being, to ask them how far they're willing to change themselves physically or sexually to become a legend and who they are by the end is completely wasted and is just used for trashy shock advertisement material. Sixthly, the amount of references to other things. I get it, CDPR, you too know of pop culture. Please stop.

The End of Illusion
If you've followed this games development at all you will not find what you want in this game. Even if you haven't there's not a single ounce of innovation or a well fleshed out mechanic in this title. If you've actually played more than just a handful of games I cannot imagine you'll walk away from this title with anything other than the taste of disappointment. This games complete lack of real vision and direction behind the wheel stops it from being something they can easily patch and more in line with needing a total rehaul. You'll catch literal seconds of what this game could of been from time to time but that just makes the final result of it all the more heartbreaking.

Updated Edit: Edgerunners was good. The game is still awful.

Due to waiting 7 years since the initial trailer this review may come across as more of a therapy session. Please keep in mind It is heavily cut down due to the Steam character limit so may lack examples. Spoiler free. [b][u]The City of Dreams[/u][/b] Despite being one of the biggest selling points of the game it's extremely lackluster. It completely fails at feeling like a living breathing world due to braindead AI that have essentially 2-3 settings on how to react to you, which isn't helped by the cop AI that literally teleports behind you. There's zero innovation in how you navigate it compared to other open world games. The roads and streets are empty even when crowd density is maxed, and the repetitive adverts feel like they were made by kids who played GTA for a weekend. You'll never have to deal with suddenly coming across a traffic blocked road, or having a chase scene in a packed street. The game lacks the detail of Rockstar title but also does nothing innovative with it unlike Death Stranding, resulting in an open world that would make even Ubisoft would look down at. [b][u]The Plot of Wholesome Keanu 100[/u][/b] The writing certainly has its moments where the CD Projekt Red you know and love finally show up, but due to the poor presentation of it and amount of clutter surrounding everything it's rarely given time to shine. In Witcher 3 half the joy was getting somewhere and seeing Geralt interact with whatever was going on, whereas now you'll be treated to a first person sitting simulator throughout much of the MSQ. The bulk of side content is handed out via bland datashards so it's impossible to feel much for them. Even when the game finally blends the writing and presentation in an engaging way it's undercut by not then reflecting it in gameplay. Given how quickly a lot of aspects of the prologue are dropped it feels like once they got Keanu on board a chunk of the game was restructured to focus on him more, even when it makes his character somewhat schizophrenic due to the open world questing aspect of the game. [b][u]The Big Dreamer With Few Real Options[/u][/b] An RPG where all styles turn out the same. Your life path means nothing aside from some extra fluff and is over in 10 minutes. Your desire to choose a certain playstyle has been butchered due to everything being watered down or not feasible due to the stat nature of the game. Your choices often feel more like you're playing Veralt instead of your V. If you wanted to spec into stealth you'll enjoy immediate disappointment when your silenced headshot not only alerts everyone but doesn't even come close to killing the person you hit, so enjoy just walking behind people to press F for most engagement. Lethal or non-lethal make no difference, the game makes no distinction even during story moments. If you wanted to spec into being a netrunner you're in for a pretty basic time as the monowire has lost all of its identity and purpose, much like the Mantis Blade, and instead act as a cheap melee weapon because long range hacking is available to all. If you wanted to do an augless run you're out of luck, if you wanted to become more machine than man you're also out of luck. Augs are implented in ways that make them come across as an afterthought, with the same level of care put into buying them as a snack. This comes across less as intentional and more as lazy. Your augs have no change on your physical appearance, so even though the game lets you look in the mirror at key moments on your journey it doesn't do anything with it. It also turns out the most exciting augs can get in 2077 for Veralt is the option of a double jump, so if you've ever played Deus Ex you've played a more exciting game from an augmentation and build standpoint. [b][u]The Cyber Punk In A Clown Wig[/u][/b] Expressing yourself with style is something the game outright tells you it's going for, however due to all the stats weaved into the clothes and the guns it means you're left more chasing numbers due to the butchered scaling more than anything. It also stops you from feeling overly attached to any weapons or clothes you may have as you'll find ones slightly better on the next ganger. Honestly the entire lootershooter aspect should of been dropped. Not only does it butcher the pacing it ends up undermining many aspects of the game it scales terribly. It's one of the main reasons the entire game comes off as a teenager describing their 'dream game' without having any idea how all these parts would actually fit together. [b][u]The Search For Trauma Team, For I Have Been Traumatised[/u][/b] Trauma Team, MaxTac, all of the constant videos and lines about factions? All of it amounts to nothing. What this game needed was something akin to that of the faction system of New Vegas but instead there is literally nothing. One mission you might end up working for a faction, then right after you can go and kill a bunch of that same faction for no reason just out in the streets, and nothing changes. If you end up helping that faction later it's never mentioned, they don't acknowledge it at all. All of the enemies blend into the same group and it makes the city feel even more lifeless, your actions even less impactful. There's no cool scenes or use of MaxTac, and you never need to worry about Trauma Team swooping in and starting fights with everyone if you take out someone of interest. [b][u]The Scraps[/u][/b] This isn't about all the cut content or the fact you can literally run onto the tram line for essentially an unintended tour of a bunch of it but more a section for additional points I can't fit in elsewhere. Firstly, all the entire UI is atrocious from the very start. It's cluttered and buggy. Secondly, the first person perspective is never once capitalized on in an interesting way nor is it consistent as you can switch to third person when in a vehicle. Thirdly, all of the music just feels like they wanted to do everything except the one type of music a large group of people actually wanted. Fourthly, the mission and level design is some of the worst I've ever played. I found in almost all of the major stealth missions I could just hold W to get in and out without letting go straight down the middle of the area without being spotted due to how all the enemies were laid out. Fifthly, the fact you can select your genitals in the character customisation is never once used. I'm not talking about how the game constantly puts your underwear on regardless or things like that, but more in the fact it's completely wasted opportunity. The game has a heavy theme about identity in a world where you can change what you are whenever you want yet never has a quest where the player would start having to mess about their genitals for key information or the like. The opportunity to really get to a simple yet effective core at peoples being, to ask them how far they're willing to change themselves physically or sexually to become a legend and who they are by the end is completely wasted and is just used for trashy shock advertisement material. Sixthly, the amount of references to other things. I get it, CDPR, you too know of pop culture. Please stop. [b][u]The End of Illusion[/u][/b] If you've followed this games development at all you will not find what you want in this game. Even if you haven't there's not a single ounce of innovation or a well fleshed out mechanic in this title. If you've actually played more than just a handful of games I cannot imagine you'll walk away from this title with anything other than the taste of disappointment. This games complete lack of real vision and direction behind the wheel stops it from being something they can easily patch and more in line with needing a total rehaul. You'll catch literal seconds of what this game could of been from time to time but that just makes the final result of it all the more heartbreaking. [b] Updated Edit: Edgerunners was good. The game is still awful. [b]